I suspect ANA was somewhat strong-armed into purchasing them, given that it was likely related to Skymark’s bankruptcy. Airbus was Skymark’s second biggest creditor, and ANA really wanted some more Tokyo Haneda slots, so some A380 orders may have very well been the deciding factor in them getting Skymark’s slots.

ANA placed orders for just three A380s, making their A380 fleet the smallest of any airline operating the airplane. Of course not every airline will/can afford to order 100+ A380s like Emirates, though you’d think there are some economies of scale involved here, where the cost per frame goes down significantly when you have more, especially in terms of operating/maintenance costs.

ANA’s first A380 is expected to enter service in spring 2019. While we don’t yet know the exact configuration, ANA has confirmed that their A380s will have between 500 and 600 seats, and will have a first class cabin. This means that the plane won’t be in a super high density configuration.

ANA first class cabin

Interestingly ANA is already marketing their A380, even though they’re more than two years from taking delivery of their first one. They’ve set up a dedicated website for the plane, which suggests that ANA plans on flying their A380 to Hawaii.

It looks like ANA will be putting a special livery on their first A380, and they’re letting people submit their design ideas. The winner will get two roundtrip business class tickets between Tokyo and Honolulu, once the A380 service launches. You can submit your ideas through November 30, though check out the dedicated site for full details.

Bottom line

Given that I’ve flown every airline operating the A380 in first class, I’m especially excited about finally seeing another airline take delivery of the plane. It seems like ANA is committed to operating the A380 between Tokyo and Honolulu, though with three planes on order, maybe we’ll see another destination as well.

Regardless, if you’re good with design, this is a pretty cool opportunity to see your art on an A380!

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About luckyBen Schlappig (aka Lucky) is a travel consultant, blogger, and avid points collector.
He travels about 400,000 miles a year, primarily using miles and points to fund his first class experiences.
He chronicles his adventures, along with industry news, here at One Mile At A Time.

Comments

This is awesome! I recall ANA also had a contest when it launched its Tokyo-Houston route — something about a caption and umbrella?
Anyways, spring 2019 seems such a long ways away but I really hope this will come to fruition. To me, ANA has always been great with space in all of its cabins. I recall flying its 777 last year and when I did my walk around, was shocked to see 3-3-3 seat configuration in economy!

@Joey: Some of ANA’s B773 actually feature 2-4-3 in economy, such as NRT/JFK. Their seats are still comfortable with shells so when the person in front of you reclines, you don’t see their seatback pushing into your space. Additionally, the industry standard on B773 now indeed is 3-4-3, such as BR, CI, MU, KL, AF. CX is switching from 3-3-3 to 3-4-3 as well.

@Harry: two biz class tix are still better than 2 economy tix. I won an ANA sweepstake last year: 2 r/t economy tix JFK/NRT and open jaw domestic to Hokkaido region with my mom. 2 nights of fancy hotel in Tokyo and 2 nights in another city (which I didn’t take since I wanted to visit Hokkaido). I had to pay some taxes because of Uncle Sam but overall I was still super happy to have won the prize and my mom was happier than I did. Superb service/food on ANA ultra long haul, no doubt.

@Dan: If you read the “about” section of this blog, and most travel hacking blogs, you’d know that flying in cattle class ain’t the goal. Feel welcome to search for economy reviews somewhere else. #RealityCheck

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